


Friendship Found in the Oddest of Circumstances

by Multifandom_damnation



Series: The burning darkness [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Brooding, Canonical Character Death, Developing Friendships, Gen, I hope this is ok, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Isolation, Leo just wants to be nicos friend, and will supports it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 13:29:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15583020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multifandom_damnation/pseuds/Multifandom_damnation
Summary: Friends can be hard to find, hard to make and even harder to keep.They say opposites attract.What about a jittery spontaneously combusting son of Hephaestus and a gloomy ball of fury son of Hades~“I suppose you were always the dragon kind of kid, right?” Nico asked as he hopped down from the crates and made his way to Leo, sitting on the floor beside him. “I always liked pirates. Bianca told me it was silly because pirates weren’t real but that never stopped me. I guess she was wrong, hey?”Blinking, Leo looked at Nico. There was no heartache in his voice when he spoke of his sister- his first sister- but instead, he spoke like someone flicking through a photo album. Never had Nico ever tried to socialize with other campers, not since Leo has known him and most definitely since Percy’s known him, but here he was, coming into Leo’s space voluntarily making jokes and sharing personal stories and trying to get to know Leo.“Yeah…” Leo agreed wearily, eyes focused on the twisting of his fingers. “I suppose.”





	Friendship Found in the Oddest of Circumstances

**Author's Note:**

> I hope this is alright. There needs to be more Nico and Leo fics on here. I know the descriptions aren't very good and I'm not too proud of this, but I tried you guys. Sorry the summary is so shit.

Leo’s head was buried deep inside Festus’s chest, metal wires in his hands and a screwdriver between his teeth when he heard the sigh and the amused, “What are you doing, Valdez?”

Startled, Leo spun around, hands ablaze because he could have _sworn_ that voice belonged to Nico di Angelo, but ‘amused’ and ‘Nico’ were not words that went together. But there, seated on a haphazardly stacked pile of wooden crates was the Ghost King himself. “Geeze Nico, how the hell did you get in here? You scared me half to death.”

“You still look alive to me. Feel like it to.” Nico joked, not answering Leo’s question. _Nico, making a joke?_ Leo thought. _I must have died and been sentenced to the Fields of Punishment because I don’t know if I can put up with this guy for the rest of all eternity._ “What are you doing?” Nico repeated, his legs swinging and heels hitting the wooden crate beneath him.

Leo scowled. “Be careful, you don’t know what’s in those crates. They could be filled with explosives.”

“I checked, they’re empty.” Nico’s feet were kicking like a pendulum, the hollow echo like a drum beat. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I’m replacing some of Festus’ wiring and the inside panels,” Leo explained with a sigh. “I have to grease up a few gears and replace some bolts, but it’s mostly just a routine check.”

“I didn’t think he needed to sleep after Piper permanently woke him up on the _Argo II?”_

“He sleeps but he doesn’t shut down. He’s gotten used to me poking around inside him by now- he sleeps right through it. Don’t you, boy?” Leo reached up and fondly rubbed his hand down the dragon’s glittery bronze scales.

“I suppose you were always the dragon kind of kid, right?” Nico asked as he hopped down from the crates and made his way to Leo, sitting on the floor beside him. “I always liked pirates. Bianca told me it was silly because pirates weren’t real but that never stopped me. I guess she was wrong, hey?”

Blinking, Leo looked at Nico. There was no heartache in his voice when he spoke of his sister- his first sister- but instead, he spoke like someone flicking through a photo album. Never had Nico ever tried to socialize with other campers, not since Leo has known him and most definitely since Percy’s known him, but here he was, coming into Leo’s space voluntarily making jokes and sharing personal stories and trying to get to know Leo.

“Yeah…” Leo agreed wearily, eyes focused on the twisting of his fingers. “I suppose.”

“Makes sense.” Nico hummed, reaching up and trailing his hand gently over Festus like Leo had done before lightly wrapping his knuckles against the dragon’s hide, making a metallic ringing sound. “I always like your dragon. The only creature besides Blackjack and Mrs. O’Leary who can stand me.”

“Yeah, well, Festus is all about people, even creepy death kids.”

“I haven’t been called a ‘death kid’ in a while.” Nico snorted and Leo felt like running away.

It wasn’t that Leo _disliked_ Nico. It was just that Nico had never shown any interest in Leo so Leo had stayed away. Far away. Leo was all about fixing broken things but he felt like Nico was broken beyond repair, just a machine who didn’t want to be fixed. Leo thrived in the light and warmth of the campfire, but Nico repulsed it, hiding in the darkest shadows away from everyone. Leo didn’t know what to make of the guy.

And here he was, sitting beside him, talking about childhoods and hobbies and pet dragons.

“Did you come here for a reason or just to admire my good looks?” Leo asked, trying to relax.

Nico shrugged. “I was bored. Jason and Piper are probably making out in the Zeus cabin, Percy is teaching a sword-fighting class, Annabeth and Frank are talking war strategy for tomorrow’s Capture the Flag. Hazel has gone for a ride on Arion and Will is flat out in the infirmary today after yesterdays’ scare.” He poked Leo in the shoulder, nearly making him drop his screwdriver in surprise. “Which leaves you, Mr. Fix It.”

“So you just came in here to disturb my very precious work because you were lonely.”

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“What about Reyna?”

“She’s back at Camp Jupiter.” Nico frowned. “If you don’t want me here I can just go-”

Leo waved him off. “Sit down, I was just curious. Not many people know about this place. I suppose it’s nice to have company, even if it is a creepy guy who can turn people into ghosts when he gets angry.”

Nico was silent and when Leo risked a glance over his shoulder, Nico’s face was cold eyes down to the floor. “Nico? Everything alright?”

“I’m sure you don’t want me around either, huh? Like everyone else?”

Blinking, Leo tried to turn to face Nico, but his hands were too far into Festus’ chest cavity so he only succeeded in turning his body 60 degrees. “Nah man, I just told you to stay. I don’t think you’re _that_ freaky, it’s fine. Coach Hedge told us all about it, I thought it was cool. Nico wait-” But Nico was already standing, walking briskly to the crates and reattached his sword to his belt (Leo didn’t realize he wasn’t wearing it) and made for the door.

“Gee Leo, tell me how you really feel,” Nico grumbled, shoulders hunched but tense.

“Man, what’s a guy got to do to be your friend?” Leo lamented, hissing as he yanked his hand out and cut himself from elbow to wrist on an exposed piece of metal. “Talk about your family some more. Tell me about your childhood in Italy. Hell, you could tell me what it felt like when you talked to ghosts and I wouldn’t mind.”

Pausing by the door, Nico hesitated but didn’t turn around. “If you haven’t understood by now that I don’t have any friends, then you don’t know me very much at all.” He pushed the doors open. “You better have Will check on that cut before you bleed all over your equipment.”

The booming sound of the doors closing echoed all through the workshop.

Leo sighed. “Damn it.”

* * *

 

Will tutted as he wrapped the bandage around Leo’s arm, the taste of his mother’s homemade _natillas_ filling his mouth as the ambrosia healed the wound on his arm. “You’re lucky that metal wasn’t rusty. You’d be getting much more than a few stitches and a mouthful of ambrosia.” Will chided.

Out the window, Nico was in the training area, sword-vs-spear as he dodged another blow from Clarisse. Those two had gotten closer for some reason, and Leo could never understand it, but both had a grim look of determinations on their faces.

It took Leo a while to realize Will was talking. “Um, sorry, could you repeat that? I went space cadet on you.”

“It’s fine,’ Will chuckled. “I’m used to it. You work too hard, Leo Valdez. Always got your head into some invention or blueprint even when you’re not working.”

“I suppose.” For once, Leo didn’t feel like making a joke. For once, blueprints and inventions were the furthest things from his mind. And for once, Leo felt the need to be friends with Nico di Angelo, as he watched the son of Hades twist and jab with slice with a sad determination that Leo had never seen before.

He was still staring out the window when Will spoke again. “Calypso seems to be settling in well here. I hear she’s been helping the Hephaestus campers with the delicate work in the forges, the Demeter kids with their gardening and the rest of us Apollo kids in the healing department. It’s a shame she wasn’t here during the Battle of Manhattan or the Rise of Gaia. More healing and machinery would have been helpful.”

“Mmmm.”

“I wonder-”

“What’s he like?” Leo asked abruptly before he could register that the words were out of his mouth. He turned when Will was silent and faced Will’s confused look. “Nico, I mean. You’re dating, yeah? You know him well enough. What’s he like?”

A slow smile crept across Will’s face as his eyes went from sharp to unfocused. “He’s sweet,” Will said quietly. “And he’s gruff but when he pushes me away he always has a smile on his face. He has such a lovely smile, and his laugh is the nicest thing I’ve ever heard. His body is full of scars, and no matter what I do or what he eats he’ll always be too skinny. His nightmares are worse after Tartarus and there are times when he fears he’ll become a shadow himself. He wears dark and scary clothes because he wants that to be the reason people don’t accept him. He giggled when he’s tired and his hands are soft, but his skin is always marred.” he leveled Leo with a stern, almost intimidating stare. “Why?”

“I want to get to know him, but he’s so hard to figure out.” Leo groaned and rubbed his temples. “I want to be his friend but every time I try he shuts me out and leaves.”

“Nico isn’t very good with the whole ‘friends’ thing.” Will explained, sitting next to Leo on the bed. “It took him a while to trust Jason and that was only after their meeting with Eros, and he and Reyna are close because of their journey here with Shadow Travel. He doesn’t feel like he belongs and that people are only pretending to like him so they can stab him in the back.”

“How do I convince him that I’m not?” Leo dug the palms of his hands into his eyes. “I just don’t know what to do. I don’t know anything about him except that he’s scarily powerful and controls undead.”

Will paused as if waiting for something, watching Nico fight Clarisse out the window. Other campers had gathered now, even Jason was sitting on the sidelines, and they were all cheering and chanting for the demigods to win. Will was pleased to see a genuine smile on Nico’s face. “When Nico was younger, Zeus murdered his mother trying to kill him and his sister, back in the 30s. Then they were put in the Lotus Casino for decades and when they came to Camp Half-Blood, Bianca almost immediately left him alone to join the hunters. She went on a quest with Percy and Thalia, and never came back.” Will’s eyes met Leo’s. “Nico blamed Percy for Bianca dying because before he left, Percy promised he wouldn’t let anything happen to her and Nico has never forgiven him.”

“Oh.” Leo said quietly.

“Then he met a ghost in the labyrinth who he thought was his friend but was really using him to get what he wanted. Nico hasn’t exactly had a good run when it came to friends and people staying around.”

“Yeah man, that must suck major balls.” Leo sat up straighter and followed Will’s gaze out the window, where Nico was helping Clarisse up off the floor. “I just wish there was something I could do to let him know that I’m here. Everyone always thinks I’m the immature goofball but really, if I can help I want to. I want to be his friend.”

“Good, Nico needs new friends.” Will nodded, placing a hand on Leo’s arm. “And eventually, even if he doesn’t say it outright, he’ll start believing and paying you back.”

“Right, any pointers?” Leo asked.

Will shrugged. “He’s always surprised when he gets gifts. Or when people are really nice to him. Or complements. He’s honestly shocked with any sort of kindness so just start there and work your way up.”

“Thanks, Will,” Leo sighed, standing up and walking to the door. “I’ll let you know how it goes.

Laugher reached Leo’s ears and he thought how ironically fitting it was for children of Apollo to have laughter that could be described as ‘musical’. “It won’t be too bad. He may act all spooky and gruff but really, he’s a big softie.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Leo winked.

It took Leo a whole three days to figure out what to do and another week to put it into motion, the coiling of the fragile strands of metal, the heating of the forge, the linking of the chains, the delicate placement and the days spent slowly hammering away to get the tiny details in place.

He wrapped it in red paper and left it at the door of the Hades cabin with a note, knocking on the door and running off before it opened.

Nico wasn’t sure who or what he was expecting, but a red package was not what he was expecting. He was tempted to leave it there, fearing that it was a prank from the Stoll’s, but the blackened edges of the card had Nico sighing, picking it up and walking to his cabin before closing the door behind him.

Leo had a tendency to burst into flames when he was nervous, so Nico was both exasperated and apprehensive as he sat on his bunk to read the card. In Leo’s erratic, messy script, it read:

**_ Hey Ghost King, _ **

**_ Feel like we got off on the wrong foot the other day. I wanted to make it up to you, so here’s a little gift I whipped up just for the angel. _ **

**_ Please don’t kill me in my sleep after opening this. _ **

Scowling, Nico put the card down and unwrapped the paper, pulling the lid off of a small white box… and paused.

Inside was a delicate angel pendant, Celestial bronze strands wrapped over each other again and again, the hands clasped tightly together in the middle of the chest, Imperial gold wings spread open and every detail of the feathers were bright and glistening, the strands of the woman’s hair realistic and in the very centre, built within the angel as if she were keeping it safe behind her own metal skin, was a small black jewel.

Lifting it up, Nico realized that it was connected to a chain, a handcrafted one at that, and placed it over his neck without a second thought, hand reaching up to touch it.

Later, he would thank Leo, repay him somehow, but right now, he was content to just sit there and admire the hard work gone into such a gift.

And though he would never admit it, Leo was extremely pleased every time he saw Nico wear it. Maybe there was hope for a friendship after all?


End file.
